SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: Stories from the Lotus Sutra

Dogen-Zenji so cherished the Lotus Sutra that he actually carved a selection of it into his door. This, the core text of not only Zen but the whole of Mahayana Buddhism, has never lost its appeal among practitioners of the Way. Join us for our SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: Stories From the Lotus Sutra led by Sensei Joshin Byrnes, Sensei Genzan Quennell

EDITOR'S NOTE

Today marks the third annual Giving Tuesday, a day set aside "to celebrate the idea of Compassion, giving back, being unselfish!" In your giving, we hope you'll consider supporting Upaya for all of the teaching and service that flows from here.

This week our resident sangha and fifty dharma friends are in the midst of the Rohatsu sesshin, culminating on December 8, honored as the Day of the Buddha's enlightenment in the Zen tradition. "We are here to celebrate awakening," Roshi Pat Enkyo O' Hara shared on the first night of sesshin.

Roshi Joan Halifax shared from the case of Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening recorded in Keizan Zenji’s Denkoroku. Upon seeing the morning star, Siddhartha said, "How wonderful! How wonderful! I along with the great earth and all sentient beings simultaneously realized the Way," and woke up.

May we all perceive the morning star of wisdom and clarity in the waning winter light.

Áine McCarthy, Editor

THIS MONTH AT UPAYA

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Dharma Talk, Daily Practice

DHARMA TALK — Wednesday, December 4, 5:30 p.m.

Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara and Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi, I and the Great Earth and Beings: A Vision of Interdependence

DAILY PRACTICE

7:00 am, 12:20 pm, and 5:30 pm. Please arrive five minutes early for sitting periods and events. Park in the East parking lot (Second driveway — the one farther from town.)

Please note:There will be no midday zazen December 2-8 and 15.Our temple will be closed Wednesday, December 25 and Wednesday, January 1. There will be no dharma talks on those days.

ROSHI JOAN: News, Teachings, Travels

Roshi is in Rohatsu sesshin til December 8. Seventy residents, sangha members and friends are at Upaya in the zendo during this annual intensive practice period with Roshis Joan and Enkyo, and Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi.

Later in December, she will be teaching at the Upaya Tucson sangha retreat (waitlist) and MD Anderson programs. Other than short trips to Tucson and Houston, she will be at Upaya til early January, and looks forward to practice, Upaya's exquisite winter, and the quiet joy of sangha.

We are accepting applications for Upaya's resident program. Please consider joining Roshi, Visiting Teachers, and Upaya for three months or more of dedicated practice and learning. By application, click here.

Roshi as well has a number of papers she has written on compassion. If you wish to receive a copy, please write the office: upaya@upaya.org

For several new videos of interviews with Roshi Joan on Upaya's Blog, click here.

Roshi Joan started a Google+ Community and more than 1500 people have joined so far. Click here to join.

Upaya is guided by a series of remarkable Visiting Teachers. We are grateful for Sensei Robert Thomas (Nov 2013), Sensei Irene Bakker (Jul/Aug 2013), Roshi Eido Frances Carney (Sep 2013). Also, we are happy that Sensei Alan Senauke is now a Core Teacher for our Chaplaincy Training and will be a Visiting Teacher in spring, 2014. Note that Roshi Norman Fischer will be leading Upaya's Summer Ango in 2014 and Sensei Robert Thomas will be leading spring sesshin, 2014 and will be a Visiting Teacher in fall 2014.

Roshi now has five new books available for sale at Upaya: Four are photography books — "Seeing Inside," "About Face," "Original Face: Unmediated Expressions of Tibet, Nepal, Burma," and "Leaning into the Light." "Lone Mallard" is a book of her haiku. In addition, over a hundred of her remarkable photos are available to look at (and purchase) on Upaya's website:https://www.upaya.org/seeing-inside/

I first met Kaz Tanahashi in the early seventies. He was embarking on a project to translate Dogen’s Shobogenzo. I had studied some the old Buddhist Japanese and Chinese and had made study books of two of Dogen’s writings, the Genjokoan and the Fukanzazengi, and Kaz asked me if I’d like to work with him on his project. Unfortunately, I was tired of such pursuits and said no, a foolish decision. Others – Mel Weitsman, Taigen Dan Leighton, Dan Welch among them – worked with Kaz on the translations and these efforts have brought us some great books.

Visit Kaz’s website, http://www.brushmind.net/, to get a taste of his art and scholarship. He’s also been involved with peacework, having, among other things, founded Plutonium Free Future with Mayumi Oda. There’s lots he’s done that you won’t find here or on his website. Maybe I can get another interview with him to go over some of that – like his slideshow on painted cars. This interview begins with much of what Kaz wrote in Meeting with an ordinary monk elsewhere on this site – but there’s lots more. – DC

As we finalize our preparations to receive His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a dialogue on Global Health and Well-being, an event co-sponsored by the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the Global Health Institute, both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it is appropriate to reflect on what science is teaching us about well-being. There are four things we can now say that science has taught us about well-being.

1.Well-being is a skill. By conceptualizing well-being as a skill, we appeal to modern insights from neuroscience where the study of neuroplasticity has informed us that the mind and brain are highly changeable and that the brain is constantly being shaped by experience and training. Viewed from this perspective, well-being is the product of skills that can be enhanced through training and is also subject to environmental influences that impact our brain, especially over the course of development.

2.Well-being is associated with specific patterns of brain activity that influence and are influenced by the body. Recent findings establish that specific patterns of brain activity involving the prefrontal cortex and limbic (below the cortex) regions are associated with reports of well-being. The circuits in the brain that we know to be correlated with well-being play a role in regulating bodily functions--immune, endocrine and autonomic nervous system activity--and through these influences can impact physical health and illness. In turn, activity in these bodily systems can feed back upon the brain and modulate its activity. Through this bidirectional communication between the brain and body, pathways have been identified that provide the beginnings of an understanding of why our emotional and physical health are intimately intertwined. It is not a random accident that happier people are healthier. Modern neuroscientific studies are shedding light on the mechanisms through which these associations arise.

3.Equanimity and generosity both contribute to well-being and are associated with distinct patterns of brain and bodily activity. The Dalai Lama has frequently urged us to be kind toward others and has suggested that kindness is a direct route to happiness. Modern research has borne this out and indicates that kindness and compassion toward others is associated with peripheral biological (i.e., biology below the neck) changes that are salubrious. Equanimity can be cultivated through simple contemplative practices and is associated with being attentive to the present moment and not getting lost in worrying about the future and ruminating about the past. Modern research indicates that the average adult American spends nearly 50% of his waking life mind wandering--not paying attention to what he is actually doing. By learning to remain aware of the present moment, we can free ourselves from being slaves to the past and future. This in and of itself can powerfully facilitate well-being and reduce suffering.

Experiments have been conducted in which participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups--in the first group, they are provided with money and told to go out and spend the money on themselves and to purchase things for themselves only; in the second group, they are provided the same amount of money as the first group but they are told to spend the money only on others. Participants in this latter group were explicitly prohibited from spending any of the money on themselves. They were simply told to buy gifts for others. Before participants were randomly assigned to either condition, they were provided with simple questionnaires asking them to rate their overall levels of happiness and well-being. After spending money on themselves or on others for one day, they returned to the laboratory and were given the questionnaires again, asking them to rate their overall level of well-being. Since I'm writing about this, I'm sure you can guess which group showed much greater increases in happiness over the course of the day--of course, it was the group instructed to spend the money only on others.

Another amazing thing about generosity and kindness is that a growing body of evidence suggests that such behavior is good for our biology. It helps to reduce inflammation and the molecules responsible for increasing inflammation.

4. There is an innate disposition toward well-being and prosocial behavior. Organisms orient toward stimuli and situations that promote well-being. We prefer things that promote well-being and we seek contexts in which well-being can flourish. We will often expend resources to improve well-being. We do not seek to become more sad or more angry and or more disgusted. This is something quite universal and appears to be present in all living creatures. Moreover, recent research indicates that human infants in the first six months of life show a preference for prosocial and cooperative situations compared with aggressive and antagonistic ones. If this indeed continues to be replicated across a wide range of cultures, it would invite the view that we come into the world with an innate preference for good and we obscure that innate propensity over the course of development as we become socialized within our modern culture. When we engage in practices to nurture compassion, we are not really learning a new skill so much as unlearning the noise which is interfering with our ability to connect with a fundamental innate core of goodness.

As these ideas become more widely known and appreciated, it is my fervent aspiration that our culture will pay more attention to well-being, will include strategies to promote well-being with our educational curricula and within the healthcare arena, and will include well-being within our definitions of health. These changes would help to promote greater harmony and well-being of the planet.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the Global Health Institute in conjunction with the Change your Mind, Change the World 2013 conference. This series of dialogues on global health, sustainable well-being and science & happiness featured his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and other thought leaders. Watch footage from the conference here: www.cmcw2013.com. Posted 10 May 2013. Accessed 27 Nov. 2013. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-j-davidson/science-well-being_b_3239792.html

I Heard it Like This… Reflections of an Inspired Talk by Joan Halifax: Alan Briskin

I am told that Buddhist sutras open with the word Nyozgamon, which means ‘I heard it like this.’ Hideo Takahashi titled his book on the spiritual teacher Masahisa Goi with these five words. What I like about these five words is that they make room for the listener to reflect back what was treasured while still adding new depth and meaning. In this way wisdom becomes collective because it is not a possession of any one person.—Alan Briskin

TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.

The first step to increased self awareness is ATTENTION.What kind of attention? Attention to an inward watchfulness. When we practice this form of alert behavior, we bring awareness to the flow of feelings, thoughts, moods, fantasies, and sensations that lie within us.

Our interior is a kaleidoscope of mental, emotional, and spiritual activity constantly in flux. How can we be self aware if we do not honor this activity? As a single note on a scale, inwardness can be an act of self absorption but it is not a single note. It is part of a greater harmony.

The second step is AFFECT.What kind of affect? Affect that has a bias toward pro social emotions such as kindness, understanding, joy, and curiosity. These are the positive emotions that warm us in pleasurable feelings and attract similar energies in others. These are not false or forced feelings, though they can be. Self awareness allows for choice and the choice to be curious, kind, understanding and joyful in the face of rigid certainty, meanness, confusion, and hatred is one of the more difficult we can make.

A choice for these positive emotions does not make us delusional or oppressively cheerful. Rather it deepens our self awareness and becomes a deliberate practice. When we practice putting forward pro social emotions in the face of pessimism or hostility or demonstrate curiosity and kindness facing head winds of destructive sentiment, then we are truly on a path toward wisdom.

The third step is INTENTION.What kind of intention? Intention that has a high regard for unselfishness. Often, we are unconscious of our own motives, going through our day reacting to people and events with habitual behavior. We smile at what amuses us and frown at what frustrates or annoys us. Certainly we pay attention to others, but not with any particular intention to listen, comfort, or care for them.

When we set our intention to be considerate of others, remarkable things can happen. Possibly it is in small steps, like letting someone go ahead of us in line or preparing a meal for a friend who is ill. Sometimes it can have larger consequences. I know a business executive who said his life was changed when he approached his staff with a “generosity of intent.” Setting an intention for unselfishness creates a tension, balancing our own needs and perspectives with the needs and perspectives of others. This tension makes us wake up to a higher purpose in life and becomes the ground from which we continue down the path of learning.

The fourth step is CULTIVATION. What are we cultivating? We are cultivating the capacity for moral sensitivity and judgment. Self awareness is advanced when we recognize that right action is not prescribed for us; it is a personal act of conscience grounded in understanding.

When we cultivate moral judgment, we are going beneath the surface of things to understand the interconnectedness of life. We are seeing beyond appearances or the simple duality of this or that. Moral sensitivity leads us to continually ask how we are being affected by others and how others are being affected by our thoughts and actions. By practicing this form of careful discernment, we become more decisive in our actions and better able to articulate the basis for our decisions.

The fifth step on the path of self awareness is WITNESSING. What are we witnessing? We are witnessing, in the role of disciplined observer, our interior thoughts and reactions. We are observing how our mind functions in response to others and our particular circumstances. When we seek harmony, do we find ourselves more irritated? When we wish to assert ourselves, do we notice feelings arise of aggression or competition? When we are praised, do we become shy or inflated? A disciplined observer does not judge but rather, over time, sees patterns of behavior.

These patterns become part of a meta cognitive perspective, an ability to see beyond isolated behaviors to a web of relationships. This witnessing capacity functions as a kind of lubrication for consciousness, loosening our attachment to particular thought patterns or reflexive ways of defending a particular view of ourselves. We become more at ease with a “self that watches over” the mind’s activities.

The sixth step is the ability to DISTINGUISH.What are we distinguishing? We are distinguishing self from others. We are becoming more fully aware of our boundaries, how we are separate from others yet deeply interconnected. By distinguishing well, we develop a capacity to moderate excessive distancing from others without collapsing into some form of false merger with them. We become aware of the differences between distancing behavior, empathic over arousal, and compassion.

The Dali Lama tells the story of a man, walking in the forest, who comes upon a person trapped under a huge boulder. The man trapped under the boulder is beginning to panic and has trouble breathing. A response of empathic over arousal would mean that the man not trapped by the boulder also begins to panic and have trouble breathing, leaving him unable to help. Alternately, a person distancing themselves from the situation might avoid it entirely and keep walking on. Compassion would mean helping to remove the boulder. Compassion suggests a degree of distance, close enough to connect us to the suffering but not so close that we mistake ourselves for the person suffering or so distant that we become numb or uncaring.

The seventh step along the path of self awareness involves KNOWLEDGE.What kind of knowledge? The knowledge of impermanence? This is the knowledge that awareness of mental and material phenomenon are continually changing, continually in flux. We may wish to cling to an idea such as happiness but if we notice what is happening inside us, happiness is not something solid, not something we can lock down. If we become aware of pain, even physical pain, that too is not something we can know with certainty. It shifts, ebbs, moves around, is felt slightly differently in slightly different places. The knowledge of impermanence allows us to liberate ourselves from clinging to fixed thoughts, emotions, and especially rigid ideas of self.

What is it about the nature of impermanence that is so important to self awareness? Self awareness is strengthened whenever habitual patterns of thought and fixed ideas are surrendered. We become more agile in facing ambiguity. We become more skillful at seeking clarity without the obstacles of existing prejudices. We become aware of the self that both creates and clings to form. We are better able to develop positive habits of letting go and letting come a new awareness.

The eighth step brings us to NON ATTACHMENT. What kind of non attachment? Non attachment to outcome. When we create an outcome in our mind, we begin to lose awareness of the present moment. We may even lose awareness of others or dismiss their importance. The outcome becomes a basis for action, a source of meaning, and a bigger canvas to project our own self importance. We may drive ourselves and others, at any cost, to reach an objective. Some might even believe this is what leadership means or what leadership requires of us.

Non attachment teaches a very different lesson. In driving toward an objective with little mindfulness of the present or concern for self or regard for others, we often fail to reach the objective, or worse, do harm to self and others. We fail to notice the stop signs along the way, always rushing forward. We fail to take note of our own intuitive insights or the insights of others. Non attachment is a liberating energy, freeing us from the fear of not achieving our goal. With reduced fear, we are capable of doing great things, having greater access to creativity, spontaneity, and a genuine ethic of caring for ourselves and others. Suddenly we are noticing what is essential in the present moment and acting from the true source of our deeper desires.

The ninth step is BODY SENSING.What kind of body sensing? The sensing that allows us to read the visceral wisdom of our own physical being. We can use technology to track our sleep cycles, find a great place to eat, or navigate between point A and point B, but do we know when our own body is distressed, frightened, exhausted or exhilarated? Do we know when to rest, eat foods that nourish us, and navigate well socially demanding situations? Our physical body is its own technological marvel that cannot be replaced by external systems. We inhabit our bodies and our bodies, from toes to the tip of our head, provide us with an extraordinary capacity to sense what is going on inside us and what others may also be feeling.

Body sensing is a central aspect to self awareness because nothing reveals so clearly the energetic state we are in. Heart rhythms influence emotional processing, higher order cognitive functions, and possibly even how and what we perceive of reality. Our nervous system has a memory only loosely under control of our conscious thoughts. Months after a woman was in a head on collision, she flinches on seeing oncoming traffic, though she consciously knows the cars are in their proper lanes. Sensing danger or feeling pain, our bodies contract and tense up, feeling love we expand and soften, frightened we might quiver or shake. Certain forms of autism and emotional fragility are associated with disassociation from one’s body. To know and respect the body in all its nuanced forms and signals is to ground oneself in the flesh and a basis for genuinely sensing into the energetic states of others.

The tenth step is ENGAGEMENT.What kind of engagement? An intentional form of cognitive and emotional engagement achieved through practice. Practice is what brings to life increased self awareness. Practice is what allows for refined neuro-cognitive linkages to form in our brain. Practice is what allows for knowing the difference between spontaneous action and intentional restraint. Wisdom cannot be gained through lofty thoughts alone, if at all. However, joined with practice, each of us can become life long learners, more skillful through encounter and engagement with the world.

The multiple paths of self awareness bring the attention inward. This is the paradoxical discovery that complements outward engagement. We become witnesses to the many selves constellated within ourselves. We become more at ease with unconscious processes because we are not the final masters of our thoughts and feelings. Instead we become co-creators with our inner life, tending to the living springs that nourish us and which flow toward the interconnected emotional waters we call compassion.

At some point along the journey, engagement with inner self and outer world become more fluid. How could it be otherwise if we embrace the many paths of self awareness - knowledge with affect, intention with non-attachment, moral sensitivity with the ability to distinguish self from other. How much more satisfying it is when we become disciplined non judgmental observers of our mind’s activities and respectful companions to our body’s wisdom. No longer living in a simple duality between this or that, we become weavers of a multi-colored tapestry that includes self and world, the world and the Self.

Standing as Equals: A conversation with Rinchen Khando Choegyal, founder of the Tibetan Nuns Project

In the sitting room at Kashmir Cottage, situated between the main town of Dharamsala and the area that is the seat of the exiled Tibetan government in India, I shared a pot of ginger tea with Rinchen Khando Choegyal, founder and director of the Tibetan Nuns Project and wife of the younger brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I enjoyed the resonant cadence of her voice as she described the history of the project and the work of women, lay and monastic, in keeping alive the teachings of the Buddha and the richness of Tibetan culture amid the hardships of exile.

Rinchen Khando was born in eastern Tibet; her parents, from a farming and business background, were, as she put it, “well-to-do, but very devout and simple people.” At the end of 1958, her family came to India for a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya and Varanasi. The plan was to leave the young Rinchen in India to attend a boarding school run by Catholic nuns. But before her parents returned home, the Chinese invaded Tibet. Since then, her family has lived in India. “Because we were already in India in 1959,” said Rinchen Khando, “we were saved.” They’d left behind almost everything they had.

In 1987, together with other activist women in the exile community, Rinchen Khando established the Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP). The project is committed to education, empowerment and improved status for ordained Tibetan women. It now supports over 700 Tibetan nuns living in North India.

According to Elizabeth Napper, Tibetan scholar and codirector of the TNP since 1991, “Opening up education to the women, particularly in conjunction with training in debate, has been transformative for the nuns. Not only have they been given access to the full intellectual richness of their Buddhist tradition but also, through debate, they have been trained to actively engage with it in a way that gives them confidence in their knowledge. Their body language changes from the traditional meekness of nuns to that of women who occupy space with confidence in their right to do so.”

In a trip to Dharamsala in January 2013, I visited two nunneries supported by the TNP. At Shugsep Nunnery, which follows the Nyingma tradition, many of the nuns are from the original Shugsep in Tibet, which was destroyed in 1959 and partially rebuilt in the 1980s by the nuns themselves. One of the senior nuns at the new Shugsep told me about her own escape from Tibet at age 20, after having spent two months in prison. Traveling on foot at night through the mountains, she and two other young nuns managed to survive along the route by exchanging prayer services for food and shelter.

At Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, nuns now pursue the 17-year course of study for the Geshema degree, which, like the Geshe degree for monks, is equivalent to a PhD in Theology. The historic decision to offer Tibetan nuns this opportunity was made in May 2012. “While the issue of the Geshema degree is decided, full ordination is not yet available,” Elizabeth Napper told me. “Full ordination for nuns would involve a huge shift in status; the series of decisions to make this possible involves the monastic community as a whole, and is long and complicated. Twenty-seven nuns from five different nunneries will be taking the examinations for the Geshema degree in a four-year process that involves a month of testing each year.” The first round took place in May 2013. “This,” Napper pointed out, “is an essential step in the process toward full ordination, as it removes any questions about their basic competence and abilities.”

Step by step, women in the Tibetan exile community are gaining opportunities to become full participants in the religious, cultural, and political life of their people. In recent years, the Dalai Lama has even said that he would be pleased to have a woman successor. Radical shifts in the role of women involve changes in Tibetan traditional culture and, ironically, serve as a force in its survival. –Barbara Gates

Commitment to education is crucial to the preservation of Tibetan culture. Could you talk about that, both in your own life and in that of the exile community? After 1959, my family and the other Tibetans who were in India could not go back to Tibet. In the early 1960s, the Tibetan government in exile, formerly known as the Central Tibetan Administration, started schools for the children. But when my sisters and I were young, these schools were not yet there. My family had to pay for the schools that we went to.

My mother sold the jewelry she brought with her on pilgrimage to pay for our education. She barely knew how to read, but she deeply knew the value of education. I remember her saying, “We’ll sell the jewelry and give the children education. That’s something which nobody can take away.”

It is because of the schools started by His Holiness that Tibetans in exile are Tibetans today. The Central Tibetan Administration has come a long way in terms of educating the young since those early days. They have now 76 schools and over 25,000 students, and a university for Tibetan students in India is in the process of becoming fully functional. The schools have given the Tibetans in exile their language, a sense of belonging, and a sense of identity.

This commitment to preserve Tibetan identity and culture has clearly fueled your own lifework. Yes. Like many others, I have been dedicated to my community, but first, I will tell you, woman to woman, because I had chosen to get married and have children and I felt it was my responsibility, I took care of my own family. Until my children were 9 and 10, I was totally at home for 24 hours. Also, at that time we lived with my late mother-in-law, His Holiness’s mother, and I felt that this was my time to look after her. When my mother-in-law passed away and my children grew up, I thought, “Okay, now I need to do something for the community.” While I had my secret eye around, women began to meet to reestablish the Tibetan Women’s Association.

Why do you say “reestablish”? Good that you ask this. The original Tibetan Women’s Association was actually founded in Tibet by women in my mother’s age group on the 12th of March in 1959. A courageous group of women demonstrated on the grounds below the Potala Palace in Lhasa, 15,000 of them pro- testing against the Chinese occupation.

After 1959, some of the women from the original Women’s Association managed to flee. They got together in Dharamsala to talk and keep that moment of protest alive. But after most of the senior members passed away, the organization gradually disappeared.

In 1984, His Holiness rallied our interest: “I remember there was once a Women’s Association. What happened?” The women in my age group said, “Now it’s time for us to wake up.” So we contacted Tibetan women from all over the world. Within a few months, with their support, we held the first general meeting of the revived Tibetan Women’s Association. His Holiness ad- dressed us, saying, “I have great faith in women’s strength. For all of the Tibetan people, I am glad you have revived this.” He added, “You must also help the nuns.” That seed was sown in my head so strongly that it never went away.

In the mid-1980s, there were only two nunneries around Dharamsala, and maybe a few in Nepal. Those first nunneries had no proper facilities, and there was no education provided whatsoever. The newly revived Tibetan Women’s Association established a new nunnery in the south and made the commitment to provide education for the nuns.

Suddenly in late 1990, we had a great influx of nuns from Tibet. We decided to separate the Tibetan Nuns Project, a religious entity, from the Tibetan Women’s Association, a political entity. And the TNP decided to look after nuns in all the Tibetan traditions and not any one solely, whether Gelug, Sakya, Kagyu, or Nyingma.

Is this the first time that nonsectarian institutions have been established for Tibetan monastics? His Holiness had already introduced a nonsectarian institution for men in Dharamsala. But for the first time we started nonsectarian institutions in the women’s world. We are trying to bring in the goodness of the four traditions; they all go to the same ultimate goal. It would be foolish to say, “Mine is better than yours.”

Isn’t it also the first time now that higher education equivalent to that offered for monks is available to Tibetan nuns? Yes, this is new. Many institutions have now opened their pro- grams to nuns, but none have yet granted the highest degrees. At Dolma Ling, nuns can pursue the 17-year program of philosophical studies required for a Geshema degree, the highest degree available. Courses are also offered in Tibetan language, English, mathematics, computer skills, and basic medical train- ing, as well as in ritual arts such as sand mandalas and butter sculpture.

One of the most exciting new opportunities for the nuns is training in debate. Debate demands brave and rigorous practice intellectually and also physically, involving complex and dramatic gestures. Was debate culturally challenging for women initially? The nuns are training in debate for the first time in the history of Tibet. Some say that long ago there were nuns who did debating and they did so well that the men were jealous of them, so the training was stopped. Of course, this may be simply a legend. The current debate training is the first that we know of for sure. And to answer your question, yes, initially when we taught the nuns the dialectics and all the other aspects of debating, they were very timid. So we’ve had to encourage them.

The annual inter-nunnery debate, a month long with six nunneries participating, is a major source of inspiration for the nuns to seriously pursue their studies and offers them the confidence they need to become effective teachers in nunneries and schools. Over the past 18 years, the number of nuns participating has grown, and the nuns have become increasingly confident. Also, when we first started debating, the male counterparts were encouraging, but some seemed to take the attitude “Hmmm, let’s see. . .” Now they have gotten more accustomed to it!

I’m imagining that doing debate practice is very personally transformative. Yes. As you may know, the Buddha said, “My words are not to be simply accepted; they are to be tested.” So debating trains you to be clear and gives you an analytical mind. When you study Buddhism you can analyze what really makes sense rather than simply memorizing. And to daily life, you bring skills in analysis and clear thinking.

So through analytical skill the nuns gradually learn to de-construct some of the delusions that drive their lives? Exactly. As you analyze your experience, you have new understanding. For one thing, you come to realize that your “self” may not be here by this time tomorrow. Therefore, why cling so much onto that so-called self?

I tell the nuns, “Eventually, when you become a scholar, don’t just say, I am going to write a book. I am going to be famous. I am going to earn this much salary. After all, you have shaved your hair. You have chosen to wear the robe. For what? You’ve chosen not to get married, not to have children. For what? You have to always keep thinking, otherwise you could be more selfish than those of us with husbands and children. At least we have a family to look after. You don’t have anybody to think about but yourself. So if you focus on that, you could be the worst person on this planet.”

I encourage them: “Your duty is to reform yourself into a good human being, and then be an example to the rest of the world. By having had this opportunity to study, you’re not going to be selfish. You’re not going to be elaborate. You are going to be altruistic and simple.”

The retreat cottages you have recently built are an ideal place for the kind of sustained contemplation you are suggesting. Are retreat facilities for nuns also an innovation not offered in Tibet? Again, the concept is not new. Nuns also retreated in caves in Tibet many years ago. In fact, it is said that some of them were wonderful retreatants, highly realized people. But over the years, the retreat practice changed. Nuns may go on retreat for many months, but mostly they recite mantras. I want to offer them the opportunity for more than that. I say, “Recite the mantras, but understand them and make them part of yourself. Once you come out of the retreat cell, if you are the same as when you went in, then what’s the point?” His Holiness has always said that women have more ability to be compassionate than men, because we have the mother seed in us. But I think we have to really water it.

In the past, in Tibetan culture, the status of women, and of nuns in particular, has been low. Changes offering new opportunities for women might appear at first to be in conflict with the effort to preserve Tibetan tradition. Not at all. In general, in the whole exile life His Holiness has done nothing but what you describe: preserved the better part of the culture and tried to get rid of those parts which were not necessary, introducing new concepts that would be good for the people and the nation in the long run. He has worked for over 50 years to give the Tibetan people freedom and democracy, to give women education. This is introducing a new system.

Coming to the nuns, we’ve preserved the old, because there were nuns even in ancient times, from whenever there were monks. But what nuns didn’t have was their current status and education. So we have introduced that, giving them the chance to learn more for themselves from the dharma.

With these innovations in the nuns’ education, we are not changing anything in the substance of what they are learning, because you can’t change buddhadharma. In the past they were having lots of soup, but it was all broth. The soup was very delicious, but the nuns didn’t have a chance to see what the soup was made of. Now, with education, they’re getting opportunities to learn the ingredients—what the Buddha taught.

In addition to the opportunities for advanced study, for debate practice and solo retreat, you are also empowering the nuns through encouraging an ethic of increased self-sufficiency. At Dolma Ling, the nuns take responsibility for managing their institution even if they are never going to be completely self-sufficient. They take on the work of running the nunnery: sewing, papermaking, tofu-making; tending cows for milk, gardening; training in computers, cameras, and video; and for modest income, sewing and crafts, and running a guesthouse and a small café.

As we study the buddhadharma here in the midst of exile, we are making Tibet part of ourselves so we can carry the teachings wherever we serve in the world. Learning to take responsibility for our institutions is crucial in this process. We deeply appreciate the generosity of our donors, but if they take care of every- thing and we do nothing, a little light goes out. That would be the saddest thing. We lost our country, but we have not lost ourselves.

This article appeared in the Winter 2013 article of Tricycle. http://www.tricycle.com/feature/standing-equals Accessed 3 Dec. 2013. Image: Nuns in afternoon debating class at Dolma Ling Nunnery, where the nuns learn the choreography of Tibetan debating as practiced by monks for centuries. Photo by Jeanne O'Connor.

These talks, given by extraordinary Buddhist teachers such as Roshi Joan Halifax, Sharon Salzberg, Bernie Glassman, and many more, are offered to support your practice even if you live far away from Upaya.

Santa Fe Sangha Events

THURSDAYS (most), 9:20 am: Weekly Seminar, Upaya House living room — open to the public. Topic is usually related to the dharma talk of the evening before. To confirm that the seminar is happening that morning, please email temple@upaya.org.

SUNDAY, December 15, 12:30 pm: Holiday Potluck Please join the local sangha and the residents for a holiday potluck lunch following the Ease and Joy of Mornings half-day zazenkai retreat. Please bring a dish to share. A-H main dish, I-Q salads, R-Z dessert or bread. Everyone is welcome and it is not necessary to be attending the retreat to join us for the meal. Please RSVP to sanghapotluck@gmail.com.

THURSDAY, December 19, 5:30 pm: Fusatsu Full Moon Ceremony A traditional Buddhist ceremony of atonement, purification, and renewing of the precepts. Upaya holds Fusatsu every month, usually on the day of the full moon. Please join us in the temple for this beautiful ceremony.

SUNDAY, December 29, 3 pm: Meditation Instruction An offering of temple etiquette and instruction in Zen forms for those who are new to meditation and practice at Upaya. There is no fee, but registration is recommended. Please contact temple@upaya.org or 505-986-8518 x21.

TUESDAY, December 31, 10 pm-12 am: New Year's Eve Join us as we gather together in zazen until midnight, and then ring in the New Year with 108 bells.

Calgary, AB, Canada: Calgary Contemplative End of Life Care Practice Group. For professionals and volunteers working with people who are dying. Second Monday each month at Hospice Calgary's Sage Center, 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Sit starts at 7 pm. For further information, contact laurie.lemieux@hospicecalgary.com

NEW: Westbury, Wiltshire, U.K. This new group will hold its first meeting on Sunday, October 27th from 3-5 pm at The East Wing, 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire. For more info, e-mail Jan Mojsa, janmojsa@googlemail.com.